I’ve been getting irritated by the use of “creative” as a label for people, ever since I used to read all those references to the “creative class”. It was a great way to sell Macs to people who like to think they’re in the creative class. Like cigarette ads targeted to women, saying “You’ve come a long way, baby.” But what’s with this “class” business. Is this England? Do you guys want butlers? It’s very hoighty-toighty and elitist.
Maybe others agree. More recently, I’ve seen the term “creatives” used. Just today, I read an article that had that term in every paragraph. But it still bugs me. Are you saying everyone else is not creative? If scientists started calling themselves the “smart class” or “the thinking people”, I don’t think that would go over well (although there is “intelligentsia”).
And who qualifies as creative? I’m sure everyone on the Think Different billboards would make the cut, but what about, say, John Grisham? Maybe you’d say blue-collar workers don’t make the grade, but one of my plumbers created a web video series showcasing debates on themes like who’s a bigger badass, Spiderman or Han Solo (just the concept seems pretty creative to me), and the guy who installed my shower door is a musician (shower doors pay better). In this age of YouTube, where anyone can create and professionals come up with stuff like Jersey Shore, it’s just not a useful category.
OK, I have to admit I am enthralled by the talents of my friends who are musicians and artists, and naturally I refer to them as creative. So I guess it’s like the term “visionary” – it’s fine to use it to describe others (as long as you don’t overdo it), but it’s pretty obnoxious if you use it to describe yourself (and I have seen “visionary” on a resume – I wonder if it’s on the guy’s business card, like Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius).
But really what dazzles me is the combination of talent and skill in an area that seems beyond me. I’m also amazed by people who are fluent in multiple languages and comfortable with advanced math and theoretical physics. I admire a lot of a lot of programmers, but I consider myself a pretty good programmer, and I have favorite writers, but based on the scant evidence of a short story course I took over twenty years ago, I could conceive of myself writing. On the other hand, I took years of piano lessons but I can’t imagine myself performing, improvising, composing, or even singing on key. That is still like magic to me. So I’ll wrap this up with a video of a couple of my music friends doing their stuff: